"A Father" by Bharati Mukherjee

                                                           “A Father” by Bharati Mukherjee

A Constant Pull between Indian and American identities

                                                                                  References

 

Ward, C. et al. 2001. The Psychology of Culture Shock. New York: Routledge.

 

In the story, “A Father”, by Bharati Mukherjee, the authors’ main characters are caught between their Indian and American cultures. Within families, there are usually a set of traditions and customs that are upheld across generations and when there is a break in those practices, problems arise. Those problems result in a culture clash within the household itself.  “In a sense, culture shock is an illness resulting from the loss of meaning brought about when people from one symbolic reality find themselves immersed in another, typically through long-term The disappointment”   ( Ward, 2001).  The readers hear the story mainly from Mr. Bhowmick. He sees America as a frightening place and he tries to hold onto his Indian culture by keeping the statue on Kali and praying to her. On the other hand, his wife, and daughter, have adopted American traditions. Because the members in the household obtain different views of America, the story shows a strained relationship between a father and daughter because of cultural influences and the generation gap.

 

The short story begins with an account of an ordinary Wednesday morning in the household of a Hindu family. From the beginning, I felt as though I was a part of the story, watching and observing. Her style of writing, allowed me to feel as though I was physically present in the two-bedroom apartment in Detroit with the Bhowmick family, a part of all the family tension. From the first paragraph, the reader gets a sense of Mr. and Mrs. Bhowmicks’ relationship, when the narrator notes, “he nudged his wife awake, even though she didn’t have to be to work until much later” (Mukherjee, 338). Not until I read more in debt of the story, did I realize that Mr. and Mrs. Bhowmick had an arranged marriage in India and they have never loved each other. They don’t have much in common accept, their birthplace, and their daughter.  

               Mr. Bhowmick is the protagonist of the story. He is described as a “dutiful, cautious man” (Mukherjee 338). He is dutiful to his heritage and the Hindu religion, often praying to Kali, a goddess of wrath and it is evident throughout the story as he reflects on his family’s lack of Hindu values and traditions that continue to fall away from the traditional eastern ways. He is dutiful to his heritage and the Hindu religion, often praying to Kali, a goddess of wrath and vengeance. He is cautious in that he sets his alarm clock early enough to accommodate a margin of accidents” (Mukherjee 839). Mr. Bhowmick attitude towards Kali is exaggerated. He gets up in the morning and spends time praying to it. It appears that he spends more time praying and thinking about Kali than in his own family. Mr. Bhowmick feels that if he stops praying to Kali, he is letting go of his Indian identity. His obsession for Kali has his wife rushing him with the prayers, since she feels that he is abandoning his family (Mukherjee 339).

Mrs. Bhowmick on the other hand, has always wanted live in America and she actually rejects the Hindu religion. She is hard working and very independent, in her pink nylon negligee that she “paid for with her own MasterCard” (Mukherjee 338).  Unlike her husband, she embraces the American culture. Babli, their daughter, takes after her mother.  Her father criticizes her for being so independent.  Babli lives in the second generation.  She is more free-minded and takes after the American culture more. There was no description of a man, so when there were signs of her being pregnant, I was quite shocked. I couldn’t imagine her bringing a man to the house. It was clear that she was pregnant, but of course she took the alternate way of having kids.  At this moment, I thought to myself, can her being pregnant; bring her and her father closer?

In fact, her pregnancy brought them even farther apart. He saw Babli's car still outside in the lot, after he knew that she had to be at work, so he entered the living room, and saw her clothing on the sofa. Then hearing his daughter gagging and throwing up in the bathroom, he knew that she was pregnant. "Babli would abort, of course. He knew his Babli. It was the only possible option if she didn't want to bring shame to the Bhowmick family." Without hesitation Mr. Bhowmick puts the blame on his wife saying that it was her idea of coming to America. Watching his daughter for weeks trying to figure out who the father was, He came to the conclusion she must of "yielded to love" or must have been raped (Mukherjee 345).                                                                                                                                                                       

        “Who needs a man?” Babli yelled to her mother. The father of my child is a bottle and a syringe." This insists she had an artificial insemination. With the continuing arguing between the parents Babli says that she just wants a baby. The father walked into an argument of Babli and her mother, on what he would call the “perfect” time.” He heard the truth of the pregnancy, and he was then able to act upon his anger. The thought of her possibly having a guy, excited him, but once he realized that there in fact wasn’t a man, he was raged.  The truth was exposed. At the end of all the mayhem Mr. Bhowmick is holding a rolling a pin, suddenly he lifted the pin high over his head   ; and struck Babli's stomach with it.

The younger generation knows that pregnancy is wrong, if the two aren’t married, yet it is not as highly frowned upon. However, for the elders, and strict cultures, it is basically a crime.  Caught between Mr. Bhowmick‟s passionate obsession with his Indian culture and the anger of the New World that he finds reflected in his daughter Babli, is what caused his anger.